The case for Greece

No, I am not talking about the economic crisis looming over Greece. It is clear that no one can save them from that. The one I am referring to is the one that happened at the UEFA Euro Championships 2012. Greece advanced to the quarter-finals after defeating Russia 1-0 in the final match of the league phase. Both Greece and Russia were tied at 4 points apiece , but Greece went through on the basis of a controversial rule that favors head-to-head records of tied teams over the usually used goal difference method.

While critics argue on which rule is better, the inherent mistake everyone is committing here is that everyone first decides who should be the actual deserving winner and then proceed to rationalize why one system is better and the other is not. In deciding who should be the winner, people ironically apply no objective criteria ( possession percentage sometimes, but that hardly counts as a criterion in the post- Mourinho days) ; they just go by what their gut tells them. Useless statements like “Greece should not have won, because they are so shitty”, “Russia deserved to win because they were so good in their first match” are common to hear. While these are okay as expressions of shock, they definitely cannot form the basis for deciding which system is better. In fact , you cannot and should not even try to decide which system is better

Please give it to Greece. They were able to take advantage of the given set of rules and constraints.That is what every sport is about and therefore, Greece deserve to go through.